Should You Do A DIY, Homemade Chainsaw Mill Or Buy A Best One?

If you have access to massive timbers at home, the selection of a homemade chainsaw mill design can be tempting. In fact, a chainsaw mill saw is a practical and much more useful solution to transform massive timbers into workable lumbers and boards.

Since the last 50 years or more professional milling tools such as Alaskan Chainsaw Mill has become popular and dependable among users. However, these professional chainsaw mills are often pricier and need a large space for storing.

So, it brings us to an immediate question, “Should you do a DIY, homemade chainsaw mill or buy the best one?”

We will discuss a comparative study between the homemade chainsaw mill and the professional best ones to assist you in making the decision.

Homemade Chainsaw Mill Design

Making a homemade chainsaw mill at home isn’t complicated, nor does it require extreme building skills. You can choose to make a simple chainsaw mill and still get nearly perfect lumbering results.

Luckily, you will get many useful and straightforward tutorials on how to make a homemade or DIY chainsaw mill. We suggest you go through YouTube and pick which design supports your skill level and cutting necessity.

However, when you go for a homemade chainsaw mill, there’re some areas which may ask for some compromises compared to a professional chainsaw mill.

Nonetheless, we will see whether these compromises are worthy of a DIY chainsaw mill or not.

Accuracy

When it comes to trimming and lumbering accuracy, this is not definitely a plus-point for homemade milling tools. On the contrary, if you purchase the best one from the market, the accuracy remains top-class.

It happens because you will outsource the components for DIY chainsaw mills from the aftermarket, and when you combine them, the optimization isn’t there. The professional manufacturing of chainsaw mill, however, comes with the best components with better collaboration, which results in higher accuracy.

Customizable Plans

If you decide to make a homemade chainsaw mill, there are many customizable plans to meet your requirements with every detail. Firstly, decide why you want to make a DIY chainsaw mill and for what purpose you will be mostly using it. For instance, do you want to trim large timbers into smaller sizes or shape small boards?

Secondly, you can choose between deeper and shallower cutting thickness. So, your homemade chainsaw mill design permits you to plan accordingly and pick only those features which you will use.

A purchased chainsaw mill is, however, not customizable, and it may have some features that you will rarely use. But you have to pay for those features anyways, which at times seems somewhat useless.

Safety Issues

If you work with patience and slowly, you can actually make your homemade chainsaw relatively safer. Still, it would lack the reliable safety precautions of a professionally built chainsaw mill.

When you use a homemade portable chainsaw for cutting down large trees or firewood, it runs with many uncommon risks. The premium safety features are essential since you will be working closely with the chainsaw.

Furthermore, while working with a chainsaw, your body is often immobilized due to your cutting posture. So, in case your DIY chainsaw breaks down, there’re higher chances of minor to major injuries with the homemade ones.

On the other side, if you purchase the best one from the market, it comes with all the necessary safety requirements. It may include auto shut down of the chainsaw in emergencies and an ergonomic handle. Another paramount safety essential is the bar protector. So, next time you plan to make a chainsaw at home, ensure that you add the bar protectors.

Smoothness

The main reason you will use a chainsaw mill is to cut lumbers into workable sizes. Yet, you would love achieving some accuracy with it.

Sadly, the homemade or DIY chainsaw is miles behind when we talk about accuracy. Even if the chainsaw works smoothly, the cutting results aren’t awe-inspiring. I once used a homemade chainsaw (it took me a whole day to manufacture), but its smoothness and accuracy were far from my expectations.

When you work with a homemade chainsaw, the chances are high that you will unintentionally end up getting a few gouges on the recently cut timber. However, you may improve the smoothness with an added ‘chainsaw planner,’ which comes in reasonable pricing.

The purchased chainsaw mill, however, comes with impressive smoothness, which will bring joy for you. So, keep it in mind.

Fatigue During Work

A homemade chainsaw mill is often not optimized correctly. It results in a heavyweight chainsaw, which requires extreme energy to operate correctly. Also, when you make any chainsaw mill at home, the handle lacks ergonomics.

Especially if the chainsaw weight goes pass 20 pounds, it can be tricky and tiresome to carry and work with it. A portable commercial chainsaw mill is, however, optimized and comes with a lightweight design.

Also, its handle has comfortable ergonomics, which will bring forth convenient use.

So, here’s the pick-

Homemade chainsaw results in quick fatigue for you compared to the best one available in the market.

Fuel Efficiency

Professional scale chainsaw mills come with a powerful motor. Its collaboration with the other components of the chainsaw means the overall system works efficiently without much wastage of fuels. A homemade saw isn’t very efficient when it comes to fuel usage.

Also, the DIY chainsaw will ask for more lubrication oil than the best one you buy from a reliable manufacturer.

Pricing

The cost of making a chainsaw mill at home is way more affordable than purchasing one. While even the cheapest chainsaw may go around $100, you can create a good-quality chainsaw at home, practically half the expenditure of a purchased one.

So, if you are running low with your account, planning for a homemade chainsaw maybe your best alternative.

The Bottom Line

So, here’s our pick on a DIY homemade chainsaw mill and best one purchased from the market-

A DIY chainsaw mill is affordable and works fine for small trimming and cutting jobs of massive timbers. But purchased chainsaw mills from reliable manufacturers bring accuracy, smoothness, and safety features at the forefront.

But you may have to pay 2X to purchase a chainsaw compared to the expenditure of a homemade chainsaw mill design. So, we would suggest you make the decision accordingly, but we encourage using a quality chainsaw mill bought from the market.

Last Updated on December 16, 2020 by Robert Patrick